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“Guys, look!” Teo’s urgent whisper drew my attention to the far end of the vault where a massive door loomed. It looked impenetrable, made of steel reinforced with bars that seemed to mock our efforts.
“Is that where the smell is coming from?” Victor asked.
“Maybe, but whatever it is, I think there are probably stairs behind it,” Grayson said. “Or a ladder or something. A way out.”
I pressed my hand to my comm. “Jace? Can you hear us?”
All I heard back was static. My heart sank. We were on our own. The weight of our situation settled heavily on my shoulders, but I refused to let it break me. I had come this far, and I wasn’t about to give up now.
“Nothing for me either,” Teo said. “Wonder how deep down we are.”
“Can’t be that deep,” Victor replied. “This is Orlando after all.”
We exchanged a look, all of us understanding that each second we spent here was a second closer to death. At least I thought so. I took a deep breath, trying to clear my mind of the chaos around me. We needed a plan.
I looked around, desperate to find something.
“Is that...?” I looked around, finding the glimmer of something and gesturing toward an intricate locking mechanism at the center of the door. This felt very much like a trap in one of those adventure books I used to read when I was a kid and I didnotlike it.
“Looks like it’s designed to keep out the world,” Victor said, squaring his shoulders.
“Can we open it?” Grayson’s voice was gruff.
“Let’s find out,” Victor said, stepping forward. I wanted to tell him to back off, but Teo caught my eye and shook his head. Victor examined the lock and smiled, his face covered in shadows.
“Can I take this? This one is complex,” he said.
“Sure, man. Knock yourself out,” Teo said, his arm shooting in front of me to hold me back. “You stay back, sunshine. Victor’s got this covered.”
“Back off!” Victor shouted, just as a bright light burst forth from the mechanism, blinding us all momentarily.
When I managed to blink away the glare, I realized that the door stood silent and strong, the light gone as if it had never been. The lock remained unyielding.
“You okay, Victor?” I asked.
He laughed. “Oh, yeah,” he said. “Never found a door that can’t beat me. This one won’t be the first.”
With a determined look, Victor approached the door again, his gaze focused on the lock. As he reached for it, I felt the tension in the room grow tenser still. We were all invested in finding a way out, and Victor was the key to that. He manipulated the lock carefully, and I could sense the frustration and determination in his movements. I found myself hoping that he’d be successful, and that we’d be able to make our escape soon. Because the longer we stayed here, the more danger we were in. As the door creaked open, revealing a spiral staircase spiraling down into the dark abyss below, a chill ran down my spine. I had a feeling we were about to descend into the darkest part of the Everglades Viper’s lair, and there was no turning back now. My fucking dad. Always with the stairs and the passageways and the theater.
“Real cozy, this viper’s den,” Victor muttered, eyeing the vault door with a mixture of curiosity and distaste. This wasn’t my first rodeo with family drama, but staring down at my dad’s handiwork, I’m sure he was thinking this was next-level.
“Alright,” I said. “I think the only way out is through.”
Grayson led the way, his hand gripping tightly onto his flashlight as if it were a lifeline. Teo followed closely behind him, his body tense with anticipation. He extended his hand to have me grab it and I followed him slowly down the spiral staircase, knowing that I would follow him into the depths of hell.
I just didn’t want to.
The air grew colder and more humid with every step, and the stench of rot grew stronger. I tried to focus on my team, their determined faces illuminated by the weak glow of the flashlights on our phone, but the darkness seemed to be closing in. My heart raced as we descended deeper into the abyss, each stepreverberating with a haunting echo. The darkness seemed to swallow us whole, its suffocating presence pressing against my chest. I tightened my grip on Teo’s hand.
Teo squeezed my hand in return, his touch providing a small comfort amidst the overwhelming darkness. With each step, the tension grew, and I couldn’t help but wonder what awaited us at the bottom of this descent. The air grew thicker, suffused with an eerie silence that made my skin crawl.
It wasn’t normal that they weren’t quipping at each other, that some conversation wasn’t happening. I appreciated that Teo was there for me but I worried about his relationship with Grayson.
Grayson had always been the fire to Teo’s ice, their banter an essential part of their dynamic. But now, as we descended deeper into the unknown, that fiery banter had been extinguished, replaced by an unspoken tension that hung heavy in the air. I could see it in the way Grayson’s jaw clenched, his eyes darting around as if he expected danger to pounce at any moment. Teo, on the other hand, seemed lost in his own thoughts, his normally bright eyes dulled by worry.
Teo was a scary man, though. I guess I lost sight of that sometimes.
As we reached the bottom of the staircase, the darkness seemed to grow even more oppressive. The air was heavy with an unspeakable dread, and I could feel fear clawing at the edges of my mind. I turned my flashlight towards the surroundings, revealing a dimly lit corridor that stretched out before us.
